Ash tray



March 21, 1944. D E ET AL 2,344,682

ASH TRAY Filed Oct. 20, 1941 5 v I I 43 INVENTORS v/AME'S KENNETH DODGE MART/N WILL/AM JOHNSON Patented Mar. 21, 1944 ASH TRAY James Kenneth Dodge and Martin William Johnson, Albany,

Calif.

Application October 20, 1941, Serial No. 415,724

6 Claims.

the person, without da'nger of leakage of contents therefrom;

(2) Which, when not in use, is capable of being sealed against spilling of contents;

(3) Which may be readily emptied when desired, without danger of soiling ones hands or clothin (4) Which may conveniently be suspended for use from some article of furniture or the like Additional objects of our invention will be brought out in the following description of the same taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a view in perspective of our im-' proved ash tray in closed condition;

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of the same device open for use;

Figure 3 is a front view in section of the device of Figure 2; t

Figure 4 is a side view in section taken along tuenneHorrigurea;

Figure 5 is a view in section taken along the line 5--I of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawing above described, the device comprises-a receptacle I preferably, though not necessarily, rectangular in cross section, having a top wall 3, a bottom wall 5, side walls 1 and 9, and end walls. II and I3, respectively. The end wall i3 is hinged to provide an openable cover having a catch ii for engagement with a depression ll in the top wall to hold the same in closed position. In the top wall of the receptacle, we provide a substantial opening i9 through which to introduce ashes or the like, into the receptacle, the wall being depressed about the opening to receive a frame 2i of wire to facilitate engagement by and provide a sealing flt with a cover 23. The cover is preferably hinged along one side and provided with a catch 25 for latchingwith the wire frame at the opposite side of the opening. I The receptacle is fitted with a transverse par titioning wall 21 having depending side walls 29 and Ii in close fitting engagement with the side walls I and 9, respectively, of the receptacle, this partition having a portion removed therefrom to form an opening 33 of substantially the same size and in alignment with the opening I! in the top wall of the container. The partitioning wall divides the container into upper and lower sections 35 and 31. In the upper section we provide longitudinal walls 39 and ii in spaced relationship to the side walls of the container, each of these walls having an ofiset l3' and 45, respectively, to one of the side walls of the container, which forms with the partition 21 a guide groove extending substantially the full length of the receptacle along each side thereof.

These guide grooves receive a sliding gate ll which, in one position, is adapted to close the opening 33 in the partition wall and, in another position, will expose such opening. The closing position of the gate is determined by a depending wall 49 closing the space between the far edge of each of the aligned openings l9 and 33 and serving as an abutment for the sliding gate when urged to its closing position.

The gate is biased to this closing position by a coiled spring 5| lying ithin the space defined by the longitudinal wall 39 and the side wall l of the container. ,This spring is anchored at the far end of the container and preferably to the end wall I l thereof, while its other end is connected to the sliding gate. Such connection is preferably effected by a slldable anchoring strip 53 joined to the gate by a link 55 straddling the upper edge of the wall 38 which has been cut down for the purpose of permitting of such sliding movement.

When the sliding gate is forced to its open position, the tension on the spring will be increased, and to hold the gate in its open position against such increased tension, a holding means in the form of a spring clip 51, which is adapted to engage the free edge of the gate, is provided. This engaging clip is preferably attached to a wall 59 which depends from the top wall of the container to about the level ofthe guides so as not to interfere with the proper sliding of the gate.

In the use of the receptacle as an ash tray, the closure 23 in the top wall will first be opened, and then the sliding gate will be forced back to its open position, whereby exposing the interior of the receptacle for the reception of ashes, or the like. When substantially full, the sliding gate may be released and the closure urged to its closing position, which makes the receptacle substantially sealed against loss of any of its contents.

Now when it is desired to empty the same, this may be very conveniently accomplished by snapping open the hinged end wall I! and the entire contents may be emptied from the receptaele, without danger of soiling the hands or clothing.

The receptacle is preferably of such small dimansions as to conveniently be carried around in the pocket, and by reason of its construction, the same may be carried around without danger of leakage of any of the contents therefrom.

To enlarge its field of use, we provide a pivotally secured supporting hook Bl to the underside of the closure which, when swung away from its position adjacent the cover, may be employed in suspending the receptacle from furniture or the like, and more particularly from the back of a chair, and when so suspended, the receptacle will be maintained in horizontal position ready for use. This supporting book may preferably be formed of wire which gives it a certain amount of resiliency, whereby the hook portion, if made sufficiently large to engage the gate 41 when the cover 23 is urged to its closing position, will impart to the supporting hook the added function of a cover spring. Thus, when the cover catch is freed, the

supporting hook 6| will cause the cover to spring open.

If it is desired to reduce the depth of the receptacle to the extent of eliminating the space above the partitioning wall 21, this can be readily eflected by providing a container of less depth, and placing the partitioning wall closely adjacent the top wall of the container. The partitioning wall will then have its side walls 29 and 3| turned under to form guides for the reception of the sliding gate 41, and the gate spring 5| will then be supported below one of these guides. With such change, no space will be available for the spring supporting hook 61 and the same will, therefore, have to be eliminated.

While we have described one embodiment of our invention in detail, the same is susceptible to various changes without departing from the scope of the invention, and we accordingly do not desire to be limited in our protection to such details, except as may be defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A pocket ash tray or the like comprising a container having a top wall opening and an end opening, independently openable closures for both said openings, a slidable gate normally positioned beneath said top wall opening closure, said gate normally sealing communication to the interior of said container via said top wall opening and adapted to be slid sufficiently to expose said opening to the interior of said container, and a hanger spring afilxed to the underside of the closure for said top wall opening.

2. A pocket ash tray or the like comprising a container having an upper wall and end walls, one of said end walls including an openable end closure for said container, said upper wall having a passage therethrough into said container, a closure for said passage secured to said container, a gate within said container normally sealing said passage, and means permitting movement of said gate betwen a position in line with said upper wall opening beneath said upper wall closure and a position exposing said opening to the interior of said container.

3. A pocket ash tray or the like comprising a container having an upper wall and end walls, one of said end walls constituting an openable end closure for said container, said upper wall having an opening therein, a closure for said opening secured to said container, a gate within said container normally sealing communication via said upper wall opening to the interior of said container, and means slidably supporting said gate and permitting movement thereof between a position in line with said upper wall opening beneath said upper wall closure and a position exposing said opening to the interior of said container.

4. A pocket ash tray or the like comprising a container having an upper wall and end walls, one of said end walls constituting an end closure for said container, said upper wall having a passage therethrough into said container, a gate within said container normally sealing said passage, and means slidably supporting said gate and permitting movement thereof between said passage blocking position and a position exposing said passage to the interior of said container.

5. A pocket ash tray or the like comprisin a container having an upper wall and end walls, one of said end walls constituting an openable end closure for said container, said upper wall having a passage therethrough into said container, a closure for said passage hingedly secured to said container and including a hanger spring aflixed to the underside thereof, a gate within said container, and means slidably supporting said gate and permitting movement thereof between a position blocking said passage beneath said upper wall closure and a position exposing said passage to the interior of said container, said hanger spring being compressed between said gate and its supporting closure when both said'gate and closure are in closed position, whereby said closure will spring open when released and expose said spring for use as a hanger for said ash tray.

6. A pocket ash tray or the like comprising a container of a size adapted to be carried in one's pocket, said container having a top wall opening and an end wall opening, walls depending from the edges of said top wall opening and extending part way into said container, a gate in said container, means slidably supporting said gate in substantially sealing engagement with said depending walls and permitting movement of said gate from said sealing position to a position exposing said opening to the interior of said container.

JAMES KENNETH DODGE. MARTIN WILLIAM JOHNSON. 

